Thankfulness Log 2015, 4

As Thanksgiving has passed into Advent, I am realizing how busy life can get. Yet in these moments is where God brings some of the gifts you don't expect or didn't plan. As I finish up these thankfulness blogs for 2015, I'm reminded and want to encourage you to keep being thankful. Be thankful for the unexpected. Be thankful in the waiting. Be thankful in the unknown. Be thankful in the still. Be thankful in the chaos. Be thankful in the Lord. Be thankful despite circumstances and because of circumstances.  I pray thankfulness would rule in our hearts because of a God who gives us a reason to be thankful! Over and Out.

Nov 22: Today I'm thankful for time with my friend and her children. I'm thankful for a drive to think. I'm thankful for a peace that comes from being with God and hearing God. I'm thankful for a side conversation with a girl who will wrestle with trusting God and I believe will walk forward in faith.

Nov 23: I'm thankful for a very diverse ethnic day. For french crepes at a restaurant in a cuban restaurant run by a Greek owner. I'm thankful for time with a mission loving girl I enjoy so much who is discipling high school women. I'm thankful for my friend Lauren who is sharing discipleship plans with the world through her blog and that I could encourage this mission loving girl to use with girls she meets with.

Nov 24: I'm thankful for some space. I'm thankful for a quiet house. I'm thankful for a clean house. I'm thankful for time. I'm thankful for a home to go home to and a beautiful Mom who loves me.

Nov 26: I'm thankful for being cared for, despite an impinged nerve. I'm thankful for a lack of anxiety. I'm thankful for old people and young people. I'm thankful for being kept in check in how I love people.  I'm thankful for my funny, spritely, smart little nugget of a niece.

Nov 27: I'm thankful to get to go to see the Peanuts Movie with my mom. I'm thankful for a bit of time with just my dad. I'm thankful I've learned to believe truth about who I am in Christ and how that isn't shaken as easily as it use to. I'm thankful to not feel like I need to shop on Black Friday.

Nov 28: I'm thankful that I have friends to watch the FSU game with.

This Blog brought to you by the FSU Seminoles, the state champs of 2015.

Thankfulness Log 2015, 3

Thankfulness is something I'm realizing has a root in the Lord, the source of all good things. But out of that there are little stems. One of those stems is my attitude. One of those stems is perspective.  As I've thought a lot of these two things, I'm struck by how attitude and perspective are what keep my eyes open to the things that warrant gratitude.

Nov 15: I'm thankful for Kyle and Nicki and how they know me and can pray for me. I'm thankful for Dave and Martha and their part in my life. I'm thankful to be able to go to Epcot with some super fun ladies and remember the God of this world who cares about all nations. I'm thankful for laughter and giggles with the single ladies at our post conference. I'm thankful for Shayna and her love for little baby things.

Nov 16: I'm thankful God wants us to be us. And that he doesn't want us to be "not us." I'm thankful for clarity. I'm thankful we are creative beings. I'm thankful for the people that let us ladies have the gift of a dinner at the Colombia. I'm thankful for cultures.

Nov 17: I'm thankful for a night off. 

Nov 18: I'm thankful for Deb E, who helps me process my life and affirms the things that are of God and those that are not.  I'm thankful for Jamie and how she is trusting God. I'm thankful for the Gospel choir coming to Navs.

Nov 20: I'm beyond thankful for the staff team. I know I mentioned them already, but I really am so thankful for having time with them and learning who they are and seeing us become more vulnerable and real with each other. I'm thankful that Jesus answers his people. That he speaks to direct situations.

Nov 21: I'm thankful for the 65 students that are here to explore how God is calling them to participate in his purpose for our lives. I'm thankful for how they are exercising faith.

This blog brought to you by the Fall weather that finally showed up this week and lets me have my windows open.

Thankfulness Log, 2015 2

In true November fashion, the last few weeks have been a flurry of crazy! But, as I stop today for the first time and sit at my home with fall candles burning, about 2 weeks of laundry piled high in my room, and a burnt out lightbulb in my bathroom that needs to be replaced that somehow is a bigger task than it needs to be, I realize amidst the chaos are little gifts here and there that the Lord has given me.

Nov 8: I'm thankful today to see so many of the young staff in our country desiring to see if going overseas for the Lord is part of what he is calling them too. I am thankful for a meeting ordained by God with a wise friend who helps me think well about how to follow Jesus with my life.

Nov 9: I'm thankful God has given me time with a new friend from Iran and that I get to help her with her English.

Nov 10: I'm thankful today to catch up with a the wife of the leader of our program this summer. I'm thankful for her heart for the Word and how she shares it. I'm thankful for a short drive to our national conference and time away to think on God's goodness.

Nov 11: I'm thankful that falling in the middle of a room of people (oops) is something I could laugh at a few hours later. I'm thankful to run into Florida staff that feel like family everywhere I go. I'm thankful for Laura who listened to my freakout moment and reminded me of truth.

Nov 12: I'm thankful for Jecka. That we can eat PBJ's on trays in a hotel room and catch up on real life.
I'm thankful that this organization is on that cares about diversity and is willing to seek the Lord saying "we don't know what to do, but our eyes are on you."

Nov 13:  I'm thankful for Bob. Ive always been thankful for Bob but I'm thankful that he is a friend, a shepherd, and advocate and a father figure. I'm thankful to see him smile and be excited about this life God has given him. I'm thankful for reunions. I'm thankful to meet a girl who labors in Chicago that was impacted generationally through a girl I discipled in NE. I'm thankful for Don and Susan who are so generous, giving, thoughtful and kind.

Nov 14: I'm thankful for friends that are real friends and not just staff friends. I'm thankful for pool time. I'm thankful for a regional director that cares about me as a person. That is willing to advocate for me. I'm thankful for the ability to worship God with 1500 people knowing we have all been called by God to be part of his heart. I'm thankful to have had a fun dinner out with friends. I'm thankful what God calls us to is always an affair of the heart and not just a discipline for life.

This Blog brought to you by the Disney Arm Band, where the magic happens apparently.

Thankfulness Log 2015, 1

Though a common type of blog in November, sometimes I find I need to be thankful. Not need like  I worship thankfulness, or I'm not remembering who gives all good gifts,  but more that I need to stop and take time to remember who God is; what he is up to; who I am in light of his plan and his grace. I need to remember and to think on and to recognize my Savior.  This is one place I can record those thoughts this November:

Nov 1: Today I am thankful for having courage to interact with acquaintances and the emotional energy to initiate with friends. Today I am thankful for a weekend where I got to share a moment with my family over how cute my little niece was as a lady bug for Halloween. Today I am thankful for my pastor talking about loving each other practically, personally and outside of the box. I am thankful Jesus loves us this way too, and that his love is what we invite people into who have yet to know Jesus. I am thankful for a walk at dusk with a neighbor and I am thankful for time to rest. I am thankful for leaders that care about my life and not just my role in ministry.

Nov 4: Today I am thankful that we are chosen and adopted by God, that we are mercied and ransomed by Jesus blood, and that we are messengers of hope and love and joy to a dying world. I'm thankful for Pastor Eric gave this message at our large group tonight and how much he interacted and loved the students. I'm thankful for the lovely senior girls I meet with and how they want to follow Jesus with their whole hearts. How they laugh and love and think deeply. Today I'm thankful for my amazing staff team that I have the privilege of working with everyday and who I'm so blessed by and who make me laugh. And who feel like an actual team and who I also can call friends.  I'm also thankful for those far away friends that can talk for 10 minutes or ten hours and, in both cases, leave feeling encouraged.

Nov 7: Today I am thankful I didn't die rollerskating with the ministry women last night. I  am thankful for women like Sue who feel more like a real friend than a staff friend. I am thankful for a national conference coming up and that today I woke up looking forward to it. I'm thankful to live in a cute house not too far from campus. I am thankful that God is working on the diversity factor among our freshman class. I am thankful I have a day to process and pack and think and watch FSU vs Clemson football.

This blog brought to you by the Author of all good things in my life and my 80's black tights with pink and purple hearts.